About

Please Note, the graphics may be a little outdated/unfinished/ugly in some respects.

So, what is the Ancients?

The Ancients is a 2D sandbox/simulation multiplayer RPG.

Sandbox-
The player can do whatever he wants. Live the life of a citizen in the
city, paying rent and taking wife, or survive in the wild; hunting,
gathering and building your own home.- Every new game is different.
You can adjust settings that effects how difficult the game is, if your
character ages, if there are NPCs or not, and so forth. - The gamezone generates each new time you start a new game in it.(Gamezone:
The player chooses from a wide selection of geographically and
culturally correct areas to play in. The "worldzone" then generates
things based on the biomes, culture and geography available in that
worldzone)

SimulationThe world, Earth in 200BCE, will continue with
or without the player's input. NPCs will live, die, fornicate and birth.
They will grow and expand, live and breath. You could, in essence, sit
back and watch as the world goes by.

MultiplayerThe
game will be multiplayer in the essence of Lobbying. You can set up a
lobby for X amount of people to join. These lobby's can be private (So
you and your friends can play alone) or Public (So anybody can join).
Alternatively, you can play on your own.

RPG- Open world: The world is open, to the extent of the selected gamezone. And even these will be quite large, depending on the gamezone (Some may be "survivalist" on small islands, whilst others may be in the highlands of Italy).- With a
base character made in the Character Workshop, you can then dive into a
world with this fellow, starting out depending on his previous upbringing that you detailed in the Background section in the Workshop. He will gain skills and abilities, follow perk
trees in every skill, increase his statistics and experience the world. -
These experiences are visible on a Timeline, and the experiences can be
recalled for boosts, such as recalling a great victory for a boost in
battle.- Your character has needs. Drink, food, people, bathroom breaks, sleep. Fulfill these to lead a better life.- Interact with other NPCs to form bonds - for good or for evil.-
Take a wife and form a family, and depending on your settings, watch as
an immortal as your family expands, or die in your lover's arms of old
age.What do you have so far?

I have a Design Document that is around 54,000 words long. This will be a major support in the design process for The Ancients, as it details every feature as the programmer may need.I also have several early tilesets and spritesheets ready to go, the rest of which I intend to design as the game is programmed, to save the fact that making them now may cause them to be incompatable to the engine's needs (ie, resolution and file sizes, animation inconsistences, format, etc)

Where does the money go?

The bulk of this pledge will go towards paying a semi-professional programmer to work on The Ancients alongside myself, whereas I am working on the graphics.

Any money from the pledge that is left over from the programmer's wages will be set aside for The Ancients' treasury.

I've been trying to get this game off the ground for 2 years now, with programmers coming and going with half-made engines, having to leave for one reason or another - namely that it's not worth their time. therefore, this push for funding came about. Programming itself is not my strong point.

Ok, let's say you get the coin. What then?

Once the pledge is fulfilled, I will advertise for a Games Programmer.Alongside that, I'll work closely with the candidate in direction and development of the game.Before
development begins, a contract will be drawn up for what is expected of
the programmer and how much he will be paid. Terms, Conditions, all
that malarkey.

Once the game is developed to a playable and
stable level, with more to do than just running around in circles, Alpha
Testing will be opened to those legible for access.Once Alpha
Testing has found out numerous bugs and all of the game features are in
and working, Beta Testing will be opened to those legible for access.

At
this point, the game will go on sale for £10~ with a window of
opportunity at a reduced price for beta access, before official game
release. Possibly, it will also be available on Steam.

The game will originally be launched in compatibility with Windows, with intention to port shortly to Mac and Linux.

And theeen?

From
there, I plan to produce expansion packs that will extend the game
beyond Italy to include new countries, creatures, cultures, equipment,
items and everything else that comes with the discovery of a new
country.

In-depth blabbering

The player takes on the roll of a being
in this virtual world. Rather than then running around killing 15 boars
or delivering 10 strands of hair to someone standing day-and-night on
the other side of the country and earning a magical pot of gold, I
intend for the game to have a "Dynamic" quest system that suits the
"Dynamic" game-world. Quests will appear and disappear depending on
conditional triggers.

EconomyI intend also to create a
"dynamic" economy. The economy works by a 3-part system (in most cases);
source, process, sale. Source may be fishing, mining, farming. Process
may be smelting & crafting, food preparation or weaving of cloth.
Sale is when the processed item hits the shop floor and are sold to the
public.Once sold, the money is used to buy more stock from the processors, who buy more source from the sourcers. You get the idea.

CraftingI
intend for the players to be able to create and craft any part of the
game, and that every item have an origin. Crafting may be a ring, ship,
house, cart, suit of armour, etc.At the start of the game, all items
available will have been created by an NPC previously, that being the
local blacksmith, whitesmith, clothier or jeweler.

Moods & PersonalitiesThe
idea of this game is "Sandbox Simulation". Rather than the game being
about the player, the player is about, if not part, of the game. The
player's character has humanly needs (Hunger, Thirst, Bladder, Hygiene,
Rest, Social, Mood, Temperature). The character has a mood. If he is
too cold or too hot, he will be upset. If a character is forced to
sleep in the gutter and to eat rats, he will be upset. If a character's
son dies in a fire, he will be... upset. On the other end of the
spectrum, eating and living well, or simply being out on a sunny day, or
seeing the sunrise, will make him happy.The character has a
personality. He may be aggressive, making him easily agitated, or making
him confrontational. He may be shy, pious, gifted, perfectionistic...
your character's personality is generated by several scenarios at the
beginning of the game that you must make options in. This opening
credits will basically be a quick-travel through your childhood and
adolescence up to modern day.

RelationshipsThe
character can form relations that are formed across a chart, across four
points of two extremes (Trust VS Distrust, Admiration VS Resentment).
There is also an extra bar which relates to an Ally/Enemy stance toward a
person, which is set by circumstance. By this system, you may have an
ally that you distrust and resent, or an enemy that you trust and admire
- or a mix up between.

CombatThe combat in-game is
tactical-turn-grid-based. You roam around the world in free time,
pixel-based movement. However, the combat is more alike to Vandal
Hearts, Final Fantasy/Suikoden ~Tactics, Disgaia, etc.By mashing up
these two extremes, you may be wandering through a forest path with a
couple of friends. One of your friends spots some berries off to the
side and goes to pick them. Suddenly, combat is activated. The person responsible for activating combat appears. Everybody is frozen in-place.The
highwayman, player or NPC, may then make his demands. If not met, he
will attack. Suddenly, more NPCs or players come out of their ambush
location and begin their turn.Your berry-picking friend is off to the side, whilst you and your other friend are next to each other.

As a result, the above paranoia-inducing possibility will create the need for a semblence of formation or personal guards.

Equipment & Combat SystemThe
character has around 100 equipment slots, give or take. This takes into
account that the player has up to four layers on a number of body slots
(head, torso, shoulders, arms, hands, legs, feet, fingers, etc) and
that each body part is singular - meaning that you can wear a boot on
one foot, and a sandal on the other - this allows for total customization of the player's own person armour set.The combat system makes your
character reliant on dodging and deflecting blows, as his HP tends to be
<20 on average. Some weapons may cause more damage depending on the
armour VS attack type - a sword may cut a shirt to ribbons and hurt the
player, whilst a hammer may cause just as much damage to the player, but
much less damage to the shirt.

If you were wandering along a
route and came across a battle such as the above, you would be able to
join the fight or to continue on your way. The combat section would only
affect those activated into the battle.

Risks and challenges

The only risk I foresee is if I were to choose a bad candidate for the job. As a result, I will be searching for a local programmer who I would be able to meet and discuss the game's development with in-person.

I have spent 2 years attempting to get this game made and as a result, I am (possibly psychotically) in requirement for this game to be completed!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £100 or more
About $161

Pledge £100 and you'll get rewards 1-10 and be invited to join the UK-based Developers of The Ancients for a meal as we celebrate the official release of the game! DISCLAIMER: You will need to find your way to the agreed location yourself. Location will be discussed afterwards to suit as many people as possible)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £200 or more
About $322

Pledge £200 and you'll join the Gold God Squad!

With this, you earn all previous rewards, plus;
- A printed T-Shirt that will declare your status!
- Access to the Dev-only section on the forum
- Play the game privately alongside the devs at the Celebratory meet-up.